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Sitting tenant from 1970s
Comments
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Sounds like he might be agreeable to going on a modern contract then. Especially if you add some sort of clause where Family Member can't give him notice for say 12 months, but he can give notice any time? Then he is free to find somewhere more suitable at his own pace but has security.0
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'I'm told the property isn't really ideal for his needs any more anyway'
I'm assuming this means he isn't as mobile, so could you offer him a ground floor flat with grab rails at doorways, bathroom etc in return for a modern tenancy?
Tenant gets a better flat on the same rent or a small increase and in return property owners get a tenancy that is mortgage lender friendly.0 -
Probably be easier for your family member just to purchase a house or a flat on the open market. At least they'll be able to get a mortgage for it.
Well, indeed that might be easier for her. It wouldn't help my parents, though, who own half of this building and want to sell. Thanks anyway.Do you know anyone who's bereaved? Point them to https://www.AtaLoss.org which does for bereavement support what MSE does for financial services, providing links to support organisations relevant to the circumstances of the loss & the local area. (Link permitted by forum team)
Tyre performance in the wet deteriorates rapidly below about 3mm tread - change yours when they get dangerous, not just when they are nearly illegal (1.6mm).
Oh, and wear your seatbelt. My kids are only alive because they were wearing theirs when somebody else was driving in wet weather with worn tyres.
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'I'm told the property isn't really ideal for his needs any more anyway'
I'm assuming this means he isn't as mobile, so could you offer him a ground floor flat with grab rails at doorways, bathroom etc in return for a modern tenancy?
Tenant gets a better flat on the same rent or a small increase and in return property owners get a tenancy that is mortgage lender friendly.
Care needs to be taken that the T takes proper legal advice on any such arrangement. Without this, the T could make a case that the LL tricked them into giving up their security. This would lead to a court giving the T rent act rights in the new tenancy.
OP - the only way to get the T out is to bribe them. As the property price is depressed by about 50% you may need to offer 30 - 40% of the property price as an incentive. The other option is to wait the for T to die.
A final option would be to find an investment LL to take on the parents share but this is highly unlikely. If you could sell the entire flat this would be viable although the price will be around 50% below normal open market value. The age and health of the T will affect the percentage price reduction.0 -
That's an interesting idea N79. I hadn't thought about selling individual flats rather than the house as a whole.
At present the whole building is owned in 50% shares by my parents and family member A. My parents want to sell their share, and family member B wants to buy it. Family member A wants B to have the chance to do this, so won't join with my parents in selling the whole building to anyone else. A & B belong to the same branch of the family and are more closely related to each other than either of them is to my parents.
Would it be possible to sell, say, flats 1&2 (with normal tenants) to B, leaving A as owner of flat 3 (with the sitting tenant) and the freehold of the building and garden? Then a mortgage would only be needed for the flats with mortgage-company-friendly tenancies? This would leave A no worse off than at the moment, except that she would be sharing ownership with B rather than with my parents, which is what she wants anyway.
Then the whole sitting tenant problem would be in the hands of two people who don't want to sell, and are close to each other, instead of involving agreements between more distant relations, who don't have the same plans about whether to sell it or keep it.
Would that work??? Or am I grasping at straws?Do you know anyone who's bereaved? Point them to https://www.AtaLoss.org which does for bereavement support what MSE does for financial services, providing links to support organisations relevant to the circumstances of the loss & the local area. (Link permitted by forum team)
Tyre performance in the wet deteriorates rapidly below about 3mm tread - change yours when they get dangerous, not just when they are nearly illegal (1.6mm).
Oh, and wear your seatbelt. My kids are only alive because they were wearing theirs when somebody else was driving in wet weather with worn tyres.0 -
N79 would the tenant be able to claim they were tricked if the rent remained the same?
from the way OP has phased the problem it seems the type of tenancy is the problem rather than the rent generated. If owners are unconcerned by the rent amount and agree to leave that the same until tenant dies for the return of a modern type agreement would there be any reason to claim they had been tricked?0 -
mlz1413
It's not just the rent. If the tenant changes to a modern agreement then at some point in the future the landlord can give him notice to leave. He could claim he'd been tricked into giving up his security even if the rent remains the same. He wouldn't agree to it anyway. He has a solicitor who wouldn't let him!
But thanks for taking an interest in my thread anyway!Do you know anyone who's bereaved? Point them to https://www.AtaLoss.org which does for bereavement support what MSE does for financial services, providing links to support organisations relevant to the circumstances of the loss & the local area. (Link permitted by forum team)
Tyre performance in the wet deteriorates rapidly below about 3mm tread - change yours when they get dangerous, not just when they are nearly illegal (1.6mm).
Oh, and wear your seatbelt. My kids are only alive because they were wearing theirs when somebody else was driving in wet weather with worn tyres.0 -
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It's just a shame if owners are willing to let him stay on terms of original tenancy, but as you say he has more rights the way it is so is unlikely to be helpful!
There is a house selling locally in a lovely village but it has an arigculture sitting tenant so is going for a very small sum.0 -
What is the condition of the property: has the family maintained it well or has it been allowed to deteriorate? Does it have adequate heating? Apologies if this is not the case with your property but lawyers are unfortunately only too aware of cases in which LLs hope to "encourage" a protected T to go by doing the bare minimum of maintenance to the property........ Apparently he's open to some other arrangement being made for him - he's (obviously) not as young as he was when he moved in, and I'm told the property isn't really ideal for his needs any more anyway. ..
No, it's not ridiculous: it's just that you are used to the current ASTs which offer little security for tenants. Thisone is a protected (Rent Act) tenancy - the owners *are* able to sell with the T in situ, just not in the manner in which your extended family would like to arrange things.....If they could sell it without removing him, they would, and the family member who wants to buy would be happy to let him stay, at least for the foreseeable future, although not necessarily for ever. But obviously if she can't get a mortgage then she can't buy. That's the only reason anybody wants to get him to move out.
I agree he's been a loyal tenant, and deserves consideration, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that whoever owns or inherits the property, or any share of it, should be unable to sell for the rest of the tenant's life. I'm a tenant myself, and that's just ridiculous.
You say that the only reason everyone wants the T out is so that one family member can get a mortgage, but earlier in the paragraph you mention that this family member would not want the T to stay forever just "at least for the forseeable future", ie presumably until the property can be "tarted up" and let out at a market rent?
Your family will of course be aware that should the T have family members living with him at the time of his death then the tenancy may continue.Most lawyers would advise a tenant *not* to give up their protected tenancy, other than in exceptional (and/or financially conducive) circumstances.0
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